Page conversion rates have ALWAYS been a problem. The simple fact is most people don’t convert even on the most optimized pages. 

What’s why traditional retargeting on ad networks has been so dang powerful. While retargeted leads come cheap, they still aren’t free. Worse, you’re back competing against your competition in the ol’ ad auction system. 

For the last 6 years, I’ve been using a tactic called Inbox Retargeting to identify who lands on my key pages and directly reach out to them in their inbox. 

No more ads. No more auctions. Just a targeted contact that showed they were interested, but didn’t quite take the leap yet. 

Before I dive into the “What’s” and “How’s”, this tactic can only be used in the good ol’ US of A. If you aren’t in the states or don’t have clients in the states, you’re out of luck. Sorry! 

How It Works

Inbox retargeting doesn’t take a lot of heavy lifting. I’ll share the strategy next but I wanted to start with some of the logistics. 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer or coder, so keep that in mind if technical or legal questions pop up. 

If you have a website, you have tracking scripts, e.g.,  GA4, the Facebook Pixel, Heatmap software, etc…

To get started with Inbox retargeting, you just need to be able to copy and paste two scripts on your site: 

• A collection script: This fires and tries to identify the visitor

A suppression script: You’d fire this on your conversion confirmation pages, you don’t want people who converted to land in your Inbox Retargeting campaigns.

The tech works off of a database of contacts in the United States that are eligible for emails, so it’s completely above board with your ESP. However, you’ll want to do a few things before you start treating them like a regular member of your email list. 

We initially tested this on one of our paid media campaigns. We already had a really strong campaign that we wanted to squeeze more leads out of…and boy did we. 

We were driving traffic from Meta (Facebook for the OGs) to this landing page:

This page converts at 58%. Yeah, that’s a humble brag…deal with it. 

Even with a 58% conversion rate, we’re still missing out on 42% of the traffic we’ve already paid for. That’s kind of a bummer. 

After we added the collection script to the page, they were able to capture a lot more leads. The conversion rate jumped from 58% to a very sweet 87% – that’s a 50% increase! 

That was the impact on a single page, that’s when we knew it was time to go bigger. 

The Strategy

Most of the tools out there, whether it’s Retention.com or Customers.ai, are going to charge based on the number of contacts. So it can get pretty easy to burn through contact credits if you run the script on every page you manage, your site and your clients’ sites included. 

That’s why you’ll want to make sure to select pages that capture intent versus targeting all of your traffic. 

ID Key Pages

Here are some of the pages you should consider adding the collection script: 

1. Campaign Landing Pages – If you’re paying to send someone to a page, the referring source piqued their interest. If they didn’t convert, you’d definitely want to follow up. 
2. Product Pages – If someone is viewing this page they’re evaluating a particular product they were interested in. 
3. High Intent/Value Content Pages – This could be your pillar content on your blog pages, podcast pages, or your top level service pages. 
4. Registration Pages – This is a subset of a landing page, but if someone got all the way to a registration or sigh up page, they’re a prime candidate for outreach.
5. Cart Pages – People abandon carts all the time. If you weren’t able to catch their details during checkout, this is an ideal opportunity. 

Effectively it’s any page where you’re pushing a specific action. While the above pages are the pages to choose from, a homepage is acceptable but will require a little more finesse when you follow up. 

Map to Email Campaigns 

Now that you’ve identified where you’re going to identify leads, you’ll need to map it to your automation tool. 

GET CERTIFIED. Discover the proven plan for effortless, automated email marketing. Click Here

Most tools have a direct integration with your email service provider, but worst case scenario you may have to pass the data through a no code integration tool like Zapier. 

Once you’ve worked out the digital plumbing, you’ll want to follow up based on the page the contact was collected on. Here’s how you should approach follow up: 

1. For Campaign Landing Pages – Give them the specific asset. They were interested in it, you’ve got their contact information, just hand over the goods. This builds good will at the start of the relationship. 
2. Product Pages – Send over the details of the product or product category they were viewing. This could be as simple as a reminder or you could build goodwill with a special offer or coupon. 
3. High Intent/Value Content Pages – Send over some of your best content or freebies that move people to the next phase of the Customer Value Journey. 
4. Registration Pages – Treat these like an “abandoned cart” type of email and get them to take that next step. 
5. Cart Pages – Same as “Registration Pages” but it’s, you know, an actual abandoned cart reminder. Similar to the product pages you could entice them to come back with a deal or coupon. 
6. Homepages – If you do run these on the homepage, you’ll need to do more of a reintroduction then transition to showcasing your best stuff. 

Email Structure

The initial message you send needs to have a very specific flow. There are four critical things that need to happen when they open up your Inbox Retargeting message. 

First, remind them about who you are and how they know you. This can be as simple as a, “Hey, thanks for stopping by…” message. Have some fun with it. 

Next, you need to provide highly specific value based on their browsing intent. If you get this wrong, they’re just going to file your message under SPAM. 

After that, you’ve got to set expectations with what they’re getting and now you’ll be communicating with them moving forward. 

And Finally, you need to give them an EASY OUT. These campaigns have our highest unsubscribe rate, but that’s because we outright ask people to unsubscribe if they don’t want any additional contact. 

Once you’e gone through this, you treat them like one of your regular subscribers with all your fancy ascension automations, content emails, and promotional emails. 

Here are the email stats from one of our PPC Campaigns:

With an average open rate of 53.87%, we know there’s a base line interest in the deliverable. The click rate is DANG good for messaging visitors who didn’t convert.

Sure the unsubscribe rate is a little high for this campaign, but that is intentional. We push them to opt-out in the first email so we don’t get dinged later with complaints. 

The Payoff: An Additional 109k Last Year

I mean, who doesn’t want another cool 100 grand for adding a script to your website and writing a couple of emails? Here’s how the numbers work out: 

Last year, we identified 3,714 leads using this method. IMPORTANT: When I was pulling these numbers, I realized we installed the code wrong on some pages and missed out on about another 2k leads…oops!

Our average lead cost was ~$7, so the leads themself were a $26,000 additional value. This alone would be a reason to use the tech. 

BUT JUSTIN, did they convert?! 

Yes!

We closed $36,000 in IPPC business from this lead source. For what we spent on those leads we’re looking at a 750% ROAS. Not too shabby. 

The rest of the money we made was by selling this service to our clients. Since we run paid ads for clients, this method is a complete no brainer. We ran a pilot program and only offered this to a handful of clients last year, we averaged about 4k/month in sales.

We sold clients the leads at ~$2/lead for some of the niches we work in, that’s a steal. 

If you decide to sell this you need to make sure the client knows these are lower intent leads and will require longer term nurtures. If you follow the email strategy I shared above, you’ll be good to go! 

Protip: Charge for building the follow up sequence! 

So that’s it! If you’re running your own business or are an agency owner, you’ve got to consider Inbox Retargeting. Though, I do have some bad news…

Not to be “Chicken Little” but this is starting to get way more attention, there are services popping out of the woodwork so this will become a table stakes method. So get ahead of this today.

The post Unlocking Hidden Revenue: The Inbox Retargeting Methodology appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

DigitalMarketer has just released a brand new email marketing certification course! 

Our expert line-up of instructors includes:

Richard Lindner, our resident “jack-of-all-trades.” Over the past 12 months he has managed well over a BILLION email sends, created & implemented strategies to overcome major changes in Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail algorithms, tripled email open rates, doubled email clickthrough rates, and generated over $20M in revenue from email marketing alone!

Alex Cattoni, founder of the Copy Posse, and master email marketer. Since 2011, Alex has helped launch several successful brands and has proudly partnered with many of the hottest transformational authors and businesses on the planet, writing high-converting sales copy, scaling multi-million dollar brands, and crafting iconic promotional campaigns.

Dave Albano, a dynamic and dedicated digital marketing expert, business strategist, and inspired speaker and trainer. Founder & CEO of Joza Marketing and creator of his famous 2-day business intensives, Dave’s high impact strategies and done-for-you services get more customers into your business, more productivity from your day, and more excitement into your life!

Hamoon Green, the CEO & chief strategist of Quick Boost Marketing. He helps 7-8 figure ecommerce brands generate 30%-40% of their total revenue through email marketing and marketing consultation. Hamoon is a whiz at helping 7-figure brands easily add 30%-50% in revenue through email marketing. 

What will you learn from Alex in the new Email Marketing Mastery online certification course:

• How to utilize and monetize your email list–the right way–to turn signups into sales…
• The 3 biggest mistakes in email marketing (and how to avoid them)…
• The power of email and why it’s the lowest hanging fruit in any business…
• A 3-part framework for building authority and anticipation before pitching an offer to your list…
• The 6 email framework you can use as the base of every single email marketing campaign you write.

In this video:

The Single Most Important Skillset You Can Learn to Grow Your Business 2:28 – 2:40

Why The Industry Definition of Email Marketing is LAME 4:23 – 4:33

What is email marketing and why does it matter?

The official definition from MailChimp says:

“The use of email within your marketing efforts to promote a business’s products and services, as well as incentivize customer loyalty. Email marketing is a form of marketing that can make the customers on your email list aware of new products, discounts, and other services.”

Alex’s laser-focused, customer-centric definition goes like this:

“The regular and reliable use of email to communicate with a list of subscribers. Used to provide real value–in the form of education, inspiration, or entertainment–and build trust that will allow you to ultimately monetize a loyal base of customers, followers, and fans.”

Become a Master of Email Marketing https://www.digitalmarketer.com/certifications/email-marketing-mastery/

WORKSHOP: Email Follow-up Machine https://www.digitalmarketer.com/workshop/the-new-email-follow-up-machine/

FREE DOWNLOAD: The Ultimate Email Subject Line Swipe File https://www.digitalmarketer.com/lp/ultimate-email-subject-line-swipe-file/

The post Why Email Marketing Matters for Monetization with Alex Cattoni [VIDEO] appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Welcome to the 8th annual installment of DigitalMarketer’s 101 Best Email Subject Lines!

Within this post, I’ve got 101 PROVEN, swipeable email subject lines that are yours for the taking. And if you’re one of our email subscribers, there’s at least a 20% chance that you played a role in determining what made the list. If that applies to you, please prepare for a little déjà vu.

Though you’re currently reading one of the most aptly titled blog posts of all time, you’ll find more here than just subject lines. I’m going to break down the 8 components of every good subject line AND you’ll get an analysis of our top 10 performing subject lines of 2020.
That way, when you’re finished with this post, you can:

1. Start deconstructing and reproducing the elements of YOUR best-performing subject lines…

…or…2.  Completely steal ours, if you haven’t already.

(NOTE: Looking for the subject lines from previous years? We’ve collected all 700+ top-performing email subject lines since 2013—and all the amazing analysis that comes with them—into The Ultimate Email Subject Line Swipe File! Create your FREE DM Insider account here to get instant access!)

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If you’re new to the post (or email marketing in general), take a minute to familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of email subject lines.

These are 8 different components I found again and again in our top-performing email subject lines…

1. Self-Interest

These are your bread and butter subject lines—you should be using them most frequently.

They are usually direct and speak to a specific benefit your audience will gain by opening the email.

Self-interest subject lines also help pre-qualify openers by giving them a clue about your email’s body content.

2. Curiosity

If self-interest subject lines work because they communicate a direct benefit, curiosity-based ones succeed for the exact opposite reason.

They pique the interest of subscribers without giving away too much information, leading to higher opens.

Be careful though, because curiosity-based subject lines can get old fast and are the most likely to miss their mark.

3. Offer

Do you like free stuff? Do you like to buy things when they’re on sale?

So does your email list.

When you are giving something away or selling something your subscribers would be interested in, directly stating that in your subject line is a great way to convince them to open the email and learn more.

4. Urgency/Scarcity

This is the most powerful type of subject line you have at your disposal.

Subject lines that communicate urgency and scarcity tell readers they must act now.

But too many of these can lead to list exhaustion, so use sparingly and, of course, only when there is truly a deadline, limited quantity, or limited availability.

5. Humanity

Don’t forget to remind your list about the person or people behind your products.

Sometimes you need to thank your subscribers, tell them a story about yourself, or make a human appeal for their attention.

6. News

Keeping your audience informed about new developments in your field builds authority and keeps your open rates high.

These subject lines often work well when combined with a curiosity element.

7. Social Proof

A fundamental characteristic of humans is that we look to the behavior of others when making decisions.

You can leverage this in your email subject lines by mentioning individual’s success stories, familiar names, or highlighting how many people are already using a product or service.

8. Story

Telling a story, or at least teasing the beginning of one in your subject line is a unique way to highlight benefit and get the open rate you’re looking for.

As for our best subject lines of the year… here they are.

The 10 Best Email Subject Lines of 2020

10. How to keep up with digital marketing…
CONTENT: T&C Early Bird Discount
OPEN RATE: 15.80%
ANALYSIS: We’ve seen that the use of “How to” in subject lines establishes authority, and draws readers in. Your subscribers want to learn something they fear they might not know yet, but believe may be helpful to them. In this instance, digital marketing is something that seems like it changes every day. Keeping up with the changes in the industry can be pretty daunting, so content that shows you how to keep up is incredibly valuable and attention-grabbing.

9. Why my first business failed
CONTENT: Tony Robbins Event Follow-Up
OPEN RATE: 15.92%
ANALYSIS: While maintaining flavors of curiosity, I got declarative with this one. Seeing as how the bulk of our email list identifies as a “marketer” in one form or another, and Content is something that virtually all marketers need nowadays… I knew that if I took one of THE keystone levers of the industry and used the well-known Bill Gates idiom, “Content is King,” as a departure statement that would separate us as an authority on the subject, I’d both deliver valuable information to our subscribers and get a few opens.

8. Something BIG is coming
CONTENT: April Accelerator Flash Sale
OPEN RATE: 16.08%
ANALYSIS: We all love a good teaser. In this subject line, the tease is on full display. You want to grab the reader’s attention, AND get them interested in following your message at the same time. Just make sure the body copy in your message pays off too—you don’t want to be the boy or girl who cried wolf or you’ll lose trust from your readers (and future opens).

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7. Holy crap… 21,601?!?!
CONTENT: Lab Open Access
OPEN RATE: 17.35%
ANALYSIS: There’s a couple of wins in this subject line. Namely, profanity is like salt: using just the right amount can be a great thing, but too much will ruin the experience. And while we’re not necessarily advocating for  “profanity” all the time, we will use a dash of it when we need to get our point across.

You’ll also score points with your reader by using a number in your subject lines, which is proven to increase open rates—bonus points if it’s a very specific number. And finally, like #8, the curiosity factor is strong in this one. 

6. 3 Rules for Marketing During a Crisis
CONTENT: Newsletter for March 21, 2020
OPEN RATE: 19.9%
ANALYSIS: Let’s face it. This year sucked. Millions of businesses were left trying to navigate the global pandemic crisis, and the marketing industry was no exception. It makes sense that guiding principles were popular fodder for subject lines. Our big takeaway on this one is to make sure you “read the room.” Note that this subject line was used in March, when the pandemic was newly on peoples’ minds and more likely to get clicked on. There have been ebbs and flows to when audiences felt like discussing crises this year, and this was the right time to talk about it. It might not have worked so well in the summertime.

5. 80% off gone in 3…2…1…
CONTENT: Content Marketing Mastery Sale
OPEN RATE: 22.54%
ANALYSIS: Scarcity is one of Cialdini’s principles of persuasion, and in my opinion, it’s the best. There’s no better way to stir someone to action than telling them they’ll miss out on something great if they don’t. (NOTE: This mail is a “closer” mail, the last in a week-long promotion meant to catch folks who missed earlier mails. Closers don’t typically get many clicks, but in this case the use of this simple square emoji gave it a boost because it looks like the content didn’t load. In fact, it grabs inbox attention more than the use of an actual emoji—just be sure NOT to lean on this tactic too much. Like crying wolf, it loses efficacy.)

4. BYE?
CONTENT: T&C 2020 Close
OPEN RATE: 25.12%
ANALYSIS: The ultimate goal of a subject line is to get the recipient to open the email, and sometimes less is more. With a simple, 3-letter question this subject line is able to stand out in the inbox among other generic, longer subject lines.

3. Get Certified in Content Marketing for $195?
CONTENT: Content Marketing Mastery Sale
OPEN RATE: 25.27%
ANALYSIS: That question mark is no accident. The Content Marketing Mastery certification course is one of our most popular, and it’s always a big draw for our subscribers when we put it on sale. At 61% off the normal price of $495, a lot of people were interested in this promotion. To warm audiences, a discount of that size begs the question: “Why now?” They know they want it. They’re looking for a reason to get it, it’s why they clicked. Cold audiences click to do the comparison. Hence the question in the subject line mark feeding both needs.

2. CLOSING down in 3…2…1…?
CONTENT: 1-Minute Facebook Video Ad Playbook
OPEN RATE: 28.08%
ANALYSIS: Again, scarcity is a powerful motivator here. The 1-Minute Facebook Video Ad Playbook is one of our most popular playbooks EVER, but when we say we’re closing a sale down, we mean it.

1. FINAL Chance for free access!
CONTENT: Lab Open Access
OPEN RATE: 34.53%
ANALYSIS: Combine scarcity, the use of a powerful emoji, and the promise of free access to one of our core products, and you have a recipe for the highest open rate we saw in all of 2020.

Now that you know what made the top 10 the most opened, here are the other 91 top-of-the-line email subject lines that round us out to an even 101.

91 More Email Subject Lines to Swipe

• ISSUE #26: A match made in…?
• A note to our community
• Really…really!!
• 10 things every marketer should know
• 60 seconds to sales?
• How DM nearly TRIPLED its open rates
• [T&C2020 KEYNOTE] Marcus Lemonis!
• Level up your marketing IRL
• PUPPIES!!
• Sales are slipping through your fingers
• Are you skipping T&C 2020?
• Smartest investment ever?
• Stop it.
• Lab is now free through the end of March
• It’s like 7 conferences in 1
• The Terminator Is Coming To T&C 2020
• 1.4 billion views?
• [GRAPHIC] Lessons from Quarantine
• IMPOSSIBLE
• Issue #40: pick 3…
• [VIDEO] My full Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019 Keynote
• New workshop turns your email list into an
• CLOSING down soon?
• [LAST CHANCE] 68% off sale ends today
• 5-day marketing challenge (starts today)
• 95% of product launches fail, says Harvard (here’s why)
• We found “hidden pots of cash” in your business
• The CRAZIEST marketing statistic I’ve ever heard
• YOU a certified marketing specialist? (FOR FREE??)
• READ: Our 11 Copywriting Book Recommendations
• People really hate THIS
• why your email open rates are slipping…
• Email Newsletter Workshop closing tonight?
• REMINDER: $1000 Off T&C tickets gone at midnight
• [EMAIL MARKETERS] Build a Sequence that Primes & Converts Subscribers
• [Low Ticket Alert] T&C 2020 “Early Bird” Tickets Almost GONE
• 2-3x you email open rates?
• You’ll be paying $700 more on Friday
• Will you also 2x your business at T&C?
• Last chance to try Lab for FREE!
• No marketer should miss this…
• [LIMITED TIME] The $7 plan for Facebook ads that convert
• Are you losing ground to competitors?
• open rates in the toilet? (we’ve been there)
• [VIDEO] Want help selling your “boring” product?
• %FIRSTNAME% – Your 8-Step Email Conversion Templates are waiting…
• [FLASH SALE] The 1-Minute Video Ad Playbook
• Insider #51: our glossiest issue yet
• %FIRSTNAME% – THANK YOU!
• %FIRSTNAME% – Don’t Miss Out!
• [READ] How we’re going back to “business as usual”…
• ????
• got 39 bucks?
• whoops!
• Get Lab FREE (No Trial, No Credit Card, No Upsell)
• Let’s work on your marketing…together!
• [CLOSING] No time to write sales emails?
• The napkin that cleaned up a $248k mess
• 73% OFF gone in 3…2…1…
• %FIRSTNAME%’s (less than) 10-hour warning
• The lowest price EVER for Copywriting Mastery
• Email Newsletter Workshop closing soon?
• $55 today, $997 tomorrow
• [CLOSING SOON] $7 for my Sales Boosting Bullets Playbook
• Our Greatest Hits of Copywriting
• Stop binge watching our trainings!
• How to slip past your prospect’s “promo-dar”
• ICYMI – your refund
• Free Training: 2x Your Sales In 6 Months?
• READ: 100 Books Every Marketer Should Read
• Feeling or ?
• You’re about to miss out…
• Vacation, all we ever wanted
• I’m closing the doors…
• STOP blogging. Start splintering.
• Stop binge watching our trainings!
• [SWIPE] Our 2020 Holiday Marketing Plan
• The “Post-COVID” reboot?
• %FIRSTNAME% – Last day to SAVE
• [GRAPH] Ready for your sales to look like this?
• Free access expiring SOON
• This REALLY ticks me off
• SWIPE: 15 tools & templates for video ads that SELL
• Bad news
• RSVP: Free training this time tomorrow?
• HATE writing your own emails?
• You gotta see this, %FIRSTNAME%
• no such thing as a “failed” video ad?
• I’m getting rid of my 11 mastery courses TONIGHT
• (Ctrl)+C & (Ctrl) + V
• Too many good ideas? STOP.

Aaaand…

THAT. IS. IT.

If you’re tired of reading “NAME” and seeing “[BRACKETS WITH WORDS IN ALL CAPS],” it’s for a good reason:

GET CERTIFIED. Discover the proven plan for effortless, automated email marketing. Click Here

Last year, those were [REALLY POPULAR FOR US, NAME].

In fact, out of our 101 best email subject lines of 2020, 23 used the [CAPS BRACKET] and 15 used the first name field.

Another cool find?

While our average subject line was 6 words, our TOP 3 of 2020 were all less than 5 words.

REMEMBER: AGAIN: Brevity is the soul of wit and pattern interrupts WORK.

My thoughts?

There will never be a “golden subject line formula.”

And that’s GOOD news, because formulas lead to stagnation. And stagnation leads to your subject lines (and as a result, your email marketing strategy) being white noise.

For all I know, last year’s [CAPS BRACKETS] and sub-5-word email subject lines could be this year’s “all emoji” or “5 en-dashes and an ampersand” subject lines (whatever that is).

That being said, I won’t chalk it up to “who knows,” because there are CERTAINLY guidelines and best practices to follow.

And if you can combine said best practices, a little creativity, the power of split-testing, and the application of the scientific method…

…you’ve got yourself a pretty solid formula for consistently pumping out winning subject lines.

Huh. Maybe some formulas do work.

Food for thought.

Anyway, if the contents of this post can act as a staple for the best practices and creativity portion of my little spiel up ^ there, it’ll’ve done its job.

Now get to work.

(NOTE: Want to see what subject lines made the list last year? What about the year before? You can get the last 7 YEARS of top-ranking email subject lines—that’s more than 700 subject lines—in The Ultimate Email Subject Line Swipe File. Sign up for a FREE DM Insider account here to get instant access!)

The post 101 Best Email Subject Lines appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

You just wrote a brand spanking new blog post! And it’s a doozy!

Now what?

What processes are in place to distribute this wonderful new resource on social media to maximize its impact? And, more importantly, what processes are in place to get LONG TERM impact out of this wonderful new resource?

The truth is that most blog posts have the lifespan of a mayfly.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

With the 6-step social sharing process I’m covering in this case study—your blog post will live a long and fruitful life.  

Our process not only notifies social connections as soon as a post is published, our strategy ensures that the post will continue to cycle through our social feeds days, weeks, and months after it’s been published.

We’ve got an infographic version of this post as well as a text version and video! You can download a PDF version of the infographic here, check out the video at the end of this post!

View the text steps of this article by clicking on one of the links below to view the explanation for that step:

• Step 1: Splinter
• Step 2: Visualize
• Step 3: Broadcast
• Step 4: Tag
• Step 5: Monitor
• Step 6: Schedule

Let’s start with the infographic… (Click the image to enlarge or download the PDF version)

And here is the text version…

Step 1: Splinter

As you know…

Product Splintering is the process of breaking off bits and pieces of your core product and selling them a la carte.

But splintering isn’t only for core products—the same process can be applied to any piece of content you create.

When your piece of content is published and ready for sharing, you have all the source material needed to splinter shareable content for social media posts.

Look to splinter the following from your blog post…

• headlines
• quotes
• images
• questions
• statistics

(It’s not necessary to use all 5 for every post, but if the opportunity presents itself, take it.)

For example, this is a recent article (written by CRO expert Justin Rondeau) with the headline “[Checklist] 5 Image Elements Worth Testing on Your Landing Page“…

Here are 4 splinters we pulled from this blog post for use on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc:

1. [Checklist] 5 Image Elements Worth Testing On Your Landing Page >> LINK
2. “An image is only as powerful as the value it communicates.” – Justin Rondeau >> LINK
3. Is Justin Rondeau spitting in the face of best practices? Find out now >> LINK
4. The elements on your website need to do 3 things. What are they? >> LINK

Ok, now that we have some text content to share on social media, it’s time for…

Step 2: Visualize

If you don’t know, now you know—visual content is necessary to drive engagement and clicks on social media (Buffer saw an increase of 18% in clicks, 89% in favorites, 150% in retweets using images!).

We’d be leaving a lot of distribution reach on the table if we didn’t incorporate images into our social strategy.

The feature image (which appears at the top of our blog posts) is always the first guaranteed visual asset to share on social media channels.

But one image isn’t enough. Create a visual asset for every possible splinter.

We use quote images on sites like Facebook and Twitter…

We created our own branded quote boxes for organic content distribution (and gave you the templates to make some of your own), but don’t think you’re hindered by a lack of graphic designer or templates.

Canva.com is one of our favorite tools for creating images you can share on social networks. Check out this same quote from above created using all standard options from Canva…

The beauty here is that we’re able to share content and engage with our audience… all for free.

If you plan to use the “Boost Post” function in Facebook to throw some paid traffic at your post, create the images with the 20% text rule in mind.  You can check your text % using this tool.

Ok, now we have our visuals locked and loaded.  Time for…

Step 3: Broadcast

Now that you have your splinters and visual assets, you need to create your social sharing links, and share the post on social platforms.

How to Create Your Social Sharing Links

You cannot optimize what you don’t measure, right?

UTM parameters are simply tags you add to a URL — when your link is clicked, the tags are sent back to Google Analytics and tracked.

Creating UTM parameters to track your post performance will give you great insight to how your post performs with different audiences and the journey they take once they read your post.

These are the UTM parameters we use on every post we share—you’ll notice there’s a different UTM link for each platform and distribution method.

For example, here are the UTM parameters for Twitter organic traffic…

Twitter Organic

• utm_source= the social network (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc)
• utm_medium= the distribution method (is this organic/free distribution or paid?)
• utm_content= We add the “slug” or extension here to differentiate the performance from post to post
• utm_campaign= This is the largest bucket and remains constant for all organic and paid traffic respectively

The slug is the extension on the post…

So, for example, this is what some of our other UTM links look like…

Facebook Organic

LinkedIn Organic

Facebook Promoted (These are the links we use when we use ads to send traffic to our content)…

Using UTM parameters allows us to track the performance of our campaigns in Google Analytics…

To build links with UTM parameters, use Google’s URL builder tool.

Once we have all our tracking links created, we put them through…

Bit.ly

Once each link is set up with its UTM parameters, they can be posted into Bit.ly to make shortened sharing links. These don’t give us the same information that Google Analytics will, but they’re a speedier method for regularly tracking performance based on clicks and sharing—more on that in just a minute.

Label your links by platform to make it easier when scanning through bit.ly’s reporting…

Create a document (whether it be a Word document, Google Sheet, or—DM’s personal favorite—a .txt doc) easily referenced and keep all of your content links in it.

Broadcasting on Facebook

When we have all social sharing links ready, we broadcast our content.

We create our Facebook content copy based on the benefits and point of the article, and we close with a hook or curiosity based question. Maintain a consistent personality and tone on your pages—where possible.

If you’re usually fun and address them with banter, appeal to them with your content the same way.

If you’re usually more serious and to the point, don’t waste their time being wordy—give them the goods straight up.

During your first broadcasting of the content, utilize the feature image:

Do you have other pages or handles?  If so, share wherever it is appropriate.

For example, we utilize the Ryan Deiss Facebook page and Twitter account to distribute DigitalMarketer’s content. He’s a personality associated with our brand and it makes sense for him to distribute our content to his followers.

We create different sets of copy for the DigitalMarketer and Ryan Deiss page, even if it’s just a small variation, so that people don’t become accustomed to just scrolling by one of our updates because they think they’ve seen what we have to say in an update from the other page.

For the second broadcast, we use a different visual asset to distribute the content.

When sharing for a second time, make sure to change copy to remove any “today’s” or “new on the blog” and condense copy to make for a shorter, more direct post.

(NOTE: If you’re a DigitalMarketer Lab member, you can learn more about how we do Social Media Scheduling on this Office Hours call.)

Broadcasting on Twitter

We use Hootsuite Pro as one of our social media management systems so that our entire content team can be logged into all social accounts, publishing, monitoring, and networking throughout the day.

(We don’t use Hootsuite to broadcast to our Facebook pages because we’ve found that there’s much more control for specific time scheduling, monitoring, and formatting directly on the Facebook platform.)

On the day of publishing, we create 3 tweets that will be published every couple hours:

1. Headline >> LINK
2. Quote >> LINK
3. Question the post answers >> LINKS

Tweets are scheduled to publish from the DigitalMarketer account and Ryan Deiss account at different times. We currently only schedule the headline tweet to go out from Ryan, and once #2 and #3 publish from DM, we retweet them from his account.

Broadcasting on LinkedIn

The beauty of LinkedIn is that posts shared on LinkedIn have a habit of continuing to be shared long after after they’re posted (even if they’re not using the link you provided). When you share with your connections, you’re sharing with a smaller audience of people that have already indicated they’re interested in your happenings.

We also tag the author in our LinkedIn status update to give them the nudge to share it on their stream as well. It’s a free and low-effort way of saying, “Here’s what I’ve been up to, here’s the content I just created.”

But how do you keep your content on your audience’s mind once you’ve broadcasted it the first time? We’ll be talking automated scheduling in just a bit.

For now, you need a good way to people’s attention with your post, especially if they’re mentioned in it…

Step 4: Tag

When we’re broadcasting a post, we tag people and brands wherever it makes sense.

For example, Justin Rondeau doesn’t have a Facebook fan page, so we didn’t tag him there – however, he has a Twitter account so we tag him in the tweets, giving him an opportunity to retweet and share the link.

But check out another post by Justin that gave us ample opportunity to tag others — and without having to ask them to contribute anything!

We were able to tag the owners of these blogs (and automate this distribution so that we’re driving traffic to the post, while continuing to drive traffic the owners’ blogs).

Step 5: Monitor

Most of the social media action will occur in the first 48-72 hours.

This is where Bit.ly comes in.

Monitoring campaigns (using UTM parameters) are the key to tracking long term performance, but Bit.ly is our favorite tool for immediate performance tracking.

• Who’s clicking?
• Where are they clicking?
• Who’s sharing?
• Where are they sharing?
• Which broadcast performed the best?
• Which platform performed the best?

Bit.ly tells us all of that.

During the initial 24-48 hours broadcasting of links, you can use Bit.ly….

• To see how many people are clicking your link from each platform.
• To see what time your post performed best.

• To figure out where in the world your content is reaching (and % of clicks they contribute to the total) — you want your content to broadcast when the people who are reading it are awake and active.

• To see which of your tweets performed best (helping you determine which copy speaks well to your audience and giving you ideas to test).

• And to see which platform it performed best on.

However, Bit.ly is only good for short term tracking here. People tend to click Bit.ly to read posts, but then share the post with either a basic URL, or directly from a sharing plugin — especially on LinkedIn.

So while it’s good to track who’s clicking your link on different platforms, don’t count your post as a loss if you don’t see tons of clicks on your shortened link.

Engagement

After the first 24 hours a post has been broadcast, one of the best ways to increase engagement is to check and regulate comments. Whether that be…

• On your blog post on your site.

• Comments on the Facebook posts you broadcasted the post on.
• Tweets sent out SHARING your post.

• Tweets sent in reply to your post.
• Comments on your LinkedIn update.

Tweets have a short lifespan, once you’ve published them, they’re already being buried by someone else’s content. The perks of retweeting someone who shared your content, or replying back to them, is that it puts your content in front of your audience with the added social proof that other people in your audience like the content you’ve been sharing.

Finally, we take Step 6 — the step that ties all your efforts together and ensures that your content stays alive and kickin’ for days, weeks, months (and sometimes YEARS) to come.

Step 6: Schedule

This is the behavior of a normal piece of content on social media…

Big spike… then vanishes from the face of the social Earth.  

That’s why long term automated distribution (scheduling) is necessary.

This what a piece of content looks like in a 6 month snapshot with scheduling and automation built into it.

Scheduling your content into a social media management tool results in perpetual sharing and content distribution with no action needed from you after loading it into your library.

We use MeetEdgar for our scheduling and automation across Twitter and LinkedIn. We’re able to make categories, and choose what time content publishes using those categories — the library will randomize itself and post content in rotation so that you’er not bombarding people with the same tweets day after day.

When you’re broadcasting your content, you have everything you need to schedule your content. After we’ve loaded our three tweets into Hootsuite the first day our content is published, we take those same splinters and immediately load them into MeetEdgar.

The other feature that’s really helpful is similar to what Bit.ly does in short term monitoring. Using MeetEdgar, we can track tweets performance over time.

This tells us when copy is getting fatigued and if we should update it—it’s also where quote images come into play. Content blurbs get tiring and are easily ignored. Image based tweets will keep your followers on their toes and clicking your content.

And that’s that! Use this 6-step distribution system to keep your content in front of your audience and give your content everlasting longevity—and don’t forget to swipe the infographic for easy reference!

Want lifelong longevity for your content, but reading isn’t your thing? Get a quick run through of our 6-Step Distribution Plan in this video:

The post How to Splinter Long Form Content appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

If you’re marketing via email, you have two problems … and they’re serious.

• SPAM Overload
• Sheer Volume

Smart marketers use the same direct response copywriting skills used to write sales pages to write promotional emails.
Why?
Because direct response copy works in promotional email.  Apply the key principles and you can solve your email problems.
Today… you’ll get access to my 13-step system for writing promotional emails that…

• Get opened
• Engage the reader
• Drive conversion

Here are the 13 steps…

Step 1 – Choose a format

My first advice is to experiment and try different types of email. The sheer variety of email formats strikes me as remarkable.
Notice the vast differences between each of the examples below.
Here’s one from US Airways…

For the record, I clicked through and it was a great offer.
Here’s an email from copywriter Bob Bly. No images. All copy.

And here’s one from Revolution Golf.

So … you’re seeing three very different formats:

• Big image with a few bullets
• Copy only
• Copy plus video

Choose a primary format but don’t be afraid to test new formats.

Step 2 – Choose a length

Digital Marketer emails vary from the short but copy heavy …

… to emails with more moving parts …

On occasion, I see emails with upwards of 2,000 words of copy in the format and style of a long-form sales letter.
There’s no one length that’s right or wrong. Through testing, you’ll discover the type of email that resonates with your clients and potential customers.

Step 3 – Get Prepared

There’s no need to spend hours on research but be sure to answer the following questions …

• What is the goal of the email?
• Who is on the list?
• What is the offer?
• What has worked before?

Step 4 – Write the subject line

Take your subject line seriously … this is a vital step.
For subject lines, I use classic direct response headlines, starting with the “How to …” headline. News-y headlines can also work.
You can get access to Digital Marketer’s best 101 email subject lines here.

Step 5 – Choose the Image

Choose an arresting image.
Some emails rely solely on copy, which is fine if that works. But the right image can improve response.
Notice how the images used in this email from Survival Life stop you dead in your tracks…

Try using an image of a video with the “Play” button clearly visible if you have a video on the landing page… this just flat out works.
The video player in this example from Revolution Golf is just an image of the video player…

 When the “Play” button is clicked it sends the reader to the landing page containing the video.

Step 6 – Write the Headline

Headline or no headline? Personally, I like to use a proper headline … just like I would on a full-bore sales page. You could likely increase your response by using a headline. Try it.
Here’s a Motley Fool email … with a headline.

And here’s a new email format (with a headline) that Digital Marketer is testing with their content emails…

Step 7 – Create an arresting introduction

The introduction must appeal directly to the people I want to reach … and only them.
Notice how Ryan Deiss appeals to the self-interest and curiosity of the target market in the opening of this email…

Step 8 – Appeal to the core desire

Follow the fundamentals. Yes … an email may be short but it must appeal to the reader’s core desires:

• Greed
• Beauty
• Sex
• Eternal youth
• Eternal health
• Work less

When I write golf copy, the core desire is usually: SMASH THE BALL!
Or I must solve a problem… or hint at solving one. PLUS the email must present an irresistible offer … or tell the reader they’re going to get a huge offer … when they “click here now.”
Notice how Joe Polish’s team at Pirahna Marketing repeatedly bring this email back to the core desire…

Step 9 – Write the Call-To-Action

Make the call to action crystal clear. I regularly get emails – even from serious marketers – without clear direction. TELL the reader what to do!
Notice how the folks over at Lead Pages don’t leave it up to your imagination to decide what to do next…

Step 10 – Provide proof

I always like to provide proof in the copy, buttressed with specific numbers.
Notice how specific the numbers are in the P.S. in this email from Ryan Deiss…

Step 11 – Write the P.S.

Include a clear P.S. in the email … this should restate the offer and may also be used to communicate any reason the reader should act now.
See how this email from Survival Life restates the offer and communicates scarcity…

Step 12 – Insert links

Mandatory … you must have a link to the next step above the fold. Then plenty of links in the body of the email. Plus one or two near the P.S.
In this email from Ryan Deiss there are 279 words and 6 links — all to the same landing page…

Step 13 – Align the message

The subject line must remain congruent with the body of the email and the body of the email must align with the landing page. It drives me crazy when email content differs dramatically from the subject line and the offer.
For more information about this, check out this article about maintaining marketing “scent.”

Last… but not least

Finally, make sure your email answers the ultimate question the reader is asking, “what’s in it for me?”
Email is a powerful weapon now and, despite competition from social media, it’s going to remain powerful … but ONLY if you apply the classic principles of direct response copywriting.
In direct marketing, we’re fortunate to have so many outstanding email platforms. I’m sure you have your favorite. Most of these platforms give you the ability to test.

Test these email elements like crazy…

• Subject lines …
• Placement of links
• Images
• Length of copy
• Headlines

Study the emails you receive and you will quickly get hundreds of ideas to test.
Here’s the final and perhaps most important step when it comes to promotional email: embrace failure.
I sometimes write email copy that fails to create a solid response… it happens. I learn from what happened and never make the same mistake.
Yes – we’re all getting bombarding with email clutter and spam … but you can break through… and increase conversion, revenue, and profit.
And, if you want to download this checklist in Excel Format — click here.

The post 13 Steps to Writing High-Converting Promotional Emails appeared first on DigitalMarketer.